The DIY Bat
The tent-making bats (Uroderma bilobatum) really lives upto their name. These small bats, which live in the forests of Panama and Costa Rica, are amongst the few species of bat known to construct their own roost.
These bats spend the night forage on fruits, but just before dawn breaks they must retreat back to a safe place to spend the daylight hours. Instead of wasting valuable time finding a roost, this species constructs their own by chewing on a palm leaf, causing it to fold over into a tent shaped shelter. The bats are white in colour, so as the sun filters through the leaf they appear green (creating excellent camouflage).
Scientists are yet to observe a tent being constructed, but some hypothesise that it is the males who create the tents in order to attract females into his territory. This could be true as most tents seem to house one male and upto 15 females. So perhaps it is less a tent and more of a brothel.
There are different species of tent-making bats, each specialise in different leaves and chewing different patterns to give different types of tents. Not many of these species have been studied by science, and most live in areas that are threatened by deforestation. So their tent constructing techniques may never be fully understood =(
Save its time to save the pimps so they can carry on camping for years to come!!
The flash from the camera shows the true colour of the bats
